The Truth About Whitney By People Who Didn’t Know Her.

Blanket media coverage over the death of Whitney Houston continues. The airwaves are saturated with experts talking about the singer’s final moments, proffering unsolicited advice to bereaved fans and Houston’s family.

Enter Shelley Ross from the website Daily Xpress who in sincere and emphatic tones told CNN that “ultimately Whitney Houston gets the responsibility for what happened to her…Whitney was a junkie”…She adds with conviction, that the singer was “suffering the ravages of cocaine abuse.”

Commenting emphatically on the cause of death before the finding, let alone burial, is not only in questionable taste but also risks being wrong. This interviewee was unable to confirm anything substantive directly. When that is the case, being less emphatic and more circumspect is always the preferred route.

The PR Verdict: “F” for Shelley Ross and the ‘expert” opinion of Xpress. There was nothing expert about it. That was the problem.

Ross shoots herself in the foot in this interview by stating “ I am not saying I knew her but I knew people who worked with her and other well meaning people.” Nice try. But without direct first hand knowledge, commenting on Houston’s death seems nothing more than a craven search for publicity. This would have been a better interview to decline.

What is Your PR Verdict?

Shefali, I hope you take time to read my blog, see that my credentials are greatly diminished by this post. http://www.shelleyzross.com
After you read the blog, Whitney Houston: a Teachable Moment, let me know what you think.

Shelley Ross doesn’t have a job.
She’s a volunteer. She contributes
sniping attacks towards people who do
have a job or experience a personal
event in their lives. She focuses
most frequently on her prior
employers and the network programming
she previously was involved with. I agree
with your conclusion that she doesn’t
deserve a public presence. CNN
must have realized their mistake.
Public disgust must have been high.
I was unable to access her CNN content
when I tried. It’s been removed.

If you read my blog, the context of my comments are that her death, whether directly or indirectly from drugs, is a teachable moment. I was an executive with ABC News where she performed. My husband was an executive at her record label. As a journalist, I have all eyewitness accounts of her struggle with addiction. The point of my blog was to address the enablers in the music business and media, unwitting or not, who knew or should have known she was not fit to perform. Although ultimately her own responsibility, I expressed my sadness for the loss of her great talent a very long time ago. It is tragic to hear, by her own admission in multiple interviews, that she abused her vocal cords by snorting cocaine, smoking cocaine in cigarettes and with marijuana.Shelley Ross recently posted..Whitney Houston: The Teachable Moment

It made perfect sense for Shelley to do this interview- if you actually read her blog, you will see what her credentials are. This interview was rushed and didn’t give her any time to explain her background or her full thoughts on Whitney. There’s no reason to criticize her- she makes some great points in the article and in the TV interview as well. She had all of 30 seconds before CNN moved on to the next topic. I suggest you read her article before you jump to conclusions! And this comes from a life-long Whitney fan- I am still devastated!!!

Shelley Ross is notorious in the television industry for destroying people. One google of her name
and you will read articles from the LA Times to Gawker to Huffington Post describing her as she is.
You will read widely that Shelley Ross has a reputation for having an on the job Tequilla problem.
Read for yourselves during the several jobs she was fired from with much public media revelation.
What I find important to understand is that Shelley Ross stepped did not know Whitney Houston.
Her husband, who she is long estranged husband, David Simone, from in all ways, long ago was associated with Diva Houston when she just began in her recording career. From third and fourth hand information, Shelley Ross attempted the seize the moment and proactively step back into the media that fired her repeatedly to appear to be an important person in the know, exploiting the death of Ms. Houston and attacking her and hurting her family and fans before she was even buried. Ross’ behavior is one of desperation since her present attempt at a blog failed. If you review who is listed on her Twitter account, a major portion of them are “fans” who reciprocate friending you when you do so in return. In other words, fillers doing a job. Ross’ behavior speaks for itself. CNN sought to sensationalize the moment for attention, just as Ross did. Shame on them both.

Is Ross now bragging about the “dirty details” she has of Whitney Houston’s problem? Frankly, my dear (Shelley), we don’t give a damn. And what kind of truly professional
recording industry man who approve of his wife sashaying around the media smearing the name of a deceased highly beloved truly gifted artist upon her tragic death, allegedly from information obtained through his work? What kind of people are these?

Absolutely right on point about this couple, Mark. What kind of human beings behave this way? I feel so sorry that Whitney was surrounded by such vultures in her career. From their behavior, one could
understand much she was exploited for many types of profiting because she had the dynamite voice of an angel. They are still extracting whatever they can from her death. It is sickening.

As far as a “teachable moment,” someone should teach Shelley Ross not the disparage the dead (but not
yet cold) and take a nasty stab at destroying someone’s public memory with unnecessary details. She’s not teachable because that is what she based a career on such antics. What purpose does she serve here? Not even the Coroner knows the precise cause of death. Shelley Ross is not teachable. Repeated firings and demotions at ABC and CBS taught her nothing. She started at the National Enquirer rag and obviously is still of that inclination. Shame, shame, shame on Shelley Ross. And she will not learn from Internet feedback. She severely redacts and filters all submissions to her net rag.
She has not learned anything and sadly, will die a very lonely woman, as she is living now.